May News Round-up

How is it already almost June? Rolling stones gather no moss, and MWDL is rolling right along! Here are a few noteworthy items.

Save the Date: MWDL Annual Meeting

The MWDL Annual Hubs and Member meeting will be taking place at J. Willard Marriott Library (University of Utah) Tuesday July 10 and Wednesday July 11. Mark your calendars and we hope to see you in Salt Lake City! July 10 will be the All Hubs Meeting and July 11 will be the Digitization Committee Meeting.  


We are also opening up July 11^th for other members in the community that are interested in learning about digitization best practices, future directions, and local and regional digital repositories, with formal registration (coming soon).

University of Utah reharvest

We're pleased to announce that all collections hosted by University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library have been reharvested by MWDL from their Solphal digital asset management system. This is the first reharvest since Solphal went live in 2017, totaling 504, 296 items as of May 31. Congratulations! 

New collections

We've welcomed many new collections from a variety of members in late spring 2018, including:

Boise State University
Buffalo Bill Center of the West
Oregon Digital
Orem (UT) Public Library
Utah State Archives
Utah State University

DPLA Harvest

DPLA harvests from MWDL on a quarterly basis (February/May/August/November), and we are nearly done with May's harvest. I'll send an update when the most recent harvest is complete. 

Where in the world is MWDL?

Our intrepid Metadata Assistant, Keegan Dohm, is studying abroad this summer in Kyrgyzstan! Keegan was awarded a three-month scholarship to live in the country in support of his Russian language minor. Congrats Keegan, and we'll see you back at the ranch in August!


That's all for now, and we look forward to seeing many of you in July for the annual meeting! Happy almost-summer!

22 New Collections from the Utah State Archives!

The Mountain West team is happy to say that we have just harvested quite a few new collections from the Utah State Archives. Some of the highlights include:

Salt Lake City (Utah) School Children's Constitution and Flag Monument Books

 

This collection contains two books compiled by the school district to document and commemorate the erection of the School Children's Constitution and Flag Monument which was funded in part through donations made by school children with local children acting as models for the sculpture. Sealed within the sculpture is a list of every child from every school in the city in 1936 along with what they wanted to be when they grew up.

School Children's Flag Pole and Constitution Monument Located at the City and County Building

Utah Department of Health Sheep Radiation Studies

These records include communications of all sorts pertaining to investigations surrounding radioactive fallout from the Nevada Test Site and its contributing role in the heavy losses of sheep and other livestock in 1953 among herds that were wintered in areas downwind of the site. This collection is comprised of materials from the Utah Department of Health for which the Utah State Archives is a custodian. 

Photo of horses with beta burns in a dotted pattern across their backs.

Capitol Commission Capitol Building Plans

This collection contains a series of drawings and blueprints detailing the building plans for the Utah State Capitol Building.

A detailed diagram of a metal door mechanism in the Utah Capitol Building.

Also among the collections we've added from the Utah State Archives are a number related to genealogy, criminal data from Utah courts, and the construction of the Utah State Capitol Building.

Collections Related to Genealogy:

The following collections may be of note for those interested in family history and genealogy research. Perhaps most notable is the Utah Soundex Birth Certificate index which contains a host of useful information in the form of phonetic indices compiled by the Works Projects Administration in the 1930s.

Weber County (Utah) Court Clerk 1850 Census Population Schedule

Utah State Historical Society World War Military Listings
Cache County (Utah) Birth Register
Park City (Utah) Birth Register
Utah Soundex Birth Certificate Index
Utah Territorial Militia Records Index
Utah State Historical Society Organizational History
Weber County (Utah) Clerk Dentistry and Optometry Board Certificates

Collections Pertaining to the Courts:

 

These collections contain records from criminal legal proceedings dating back as far as 1876 and may prove interesting to anyone from legal scholars to genealogical researchers.

Utah Third District Court Salt Lake County Criminal Case Index

Utah Third District: Salt Lake County Probate Case Files

Crime in Utah Collection

Utah Second District Court John D. Lee Criminal Case File

Ogden (Utah) Police Arrest and Jail Record Books

Second District Court Weber County Index to Civil Actions

The Capitol Commission Collections:

The records in these collections form a comprehensive documentation of the commissioning of the Utah Capitol Building.  Included is a collection of renderings from the original competition to design the capitol building, photographs of the building's construction (including a commemorative photo album produced by Shipler Commercial Photographers of Salt Lake City), blueprints, meeting minutes, as well as press and public relations materials.

Capitol Commission Capitol Design Competition Renderings

Capitol Commission Newspaper Clippings

Capitol Commission Minutes

Capitol Commission Biennial Reports
Capitol Commission Photographs
Capitol Commission Capitol Building Plans

Thank you to Utah State Archives for their new additions!

New Collections from Utah State Archives

I'm happy to announce that we've just added some great collections from Utah State Archives!

Ranging from maps, portraits of mayors and firefighters, to primary source documents connected with the trial and execution of Joe Hill.

• Cedar City (Utah) City and Cemetery Map
• Utah Semi-Centennial Commission Book of the Pioneers
• Utah Territorial Secretary Territorial Executive Papers
• Utah Third District Case File Index
• Utah Third District Court: Salt Lake County Civil Case Indexes
• Wheeler Historic Farm Photographs 
• Salt Lake City (Utah) Fire Department Photographs
• Ogden (Utah) City Recorder Mayors Photographs
• Governor Jon M. Huntsman (2005-2009) 
• Press ReleasesUtah Governor William Spry (1909-1917) Joseph Hillstrom Case Records 
• Utah Governor William Spry (1909-1917) Joseph Hillstrom Correspondence
• Utah Governor William Spry (1909-1917) Joseph Hillstrom Petitions 
• Utah State Capitol Building

Browse even more collections from Utah State Archives in MWDL.

Recent new collections added to MWDL

First of all, let's welcome Stacks from the Idaho Commission for Libraries to the MWDL! We are still working on some additional technical troubleshooting that needs to be completed before we harvest the entire repository, but right now we have over 18,000 of the 27,000 Idaho government documents offered by Stacks. These records complement our existing government documents collections from Utah, Arizona, and Montana. The Stacks page on the MWDL web site lists the currently available collections from this repository.

Other new collections are:

Salt Lake City (UT) Tax Assessment Rolls from Utah State Archives Brian Head Ski Resort Photographs from Southern Utah University